Monday, December 16, 2013

Saudi Arabia deemed Malaysia as the most developed Muslim country in terms of education, including vocational education and trainings, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia to Saudi Arabia Datuk Syed Omar Al Saggaf said Saturday.

RIYADH (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Saudi Arabia deemed Malaysia as the most developed Muslim country in terms of education, including vocational education and trainings, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia to Saudi Arabia Datuk Syed Omar Al Saggaf said Saturday.

He said this was evidenced by the invitation received by the Prime Minister's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to deliver a keynote address entitled "The Teacher's Competency - Nurturing The Future Generation" at the First International Conference on Total Quality Management (TQM) in K-12 Education here during her visit to Saudi Arabia from Jan 8 to 10.

"Saudi Arabia has the financial and physical capabilities, but in terms of education and training, they view Malaysia as more advanced.

"With the invitation to Rosmah to address the international community at the conference, it is hoped that it will give a bigger impact on the bilateral relations between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, which had been established since our independence," he told Malaysian media at the Embassy of Malaysia here today.

He added that Saudi Arabia was also impressed with the early education activities under the Permata Negara programme inspired by Rosmah and would probably adapt such a programme for its younger generation in future.

The three-day conference was organised by the Education Ministry of Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Rosmah was also scheduled to witness the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia with the Saudi Arabian Islamic Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba).

The MoU will enable USIM and Mawhiba to develop the curriculum for Permata Insan programme that relates education, environmental, science and mathematics with the Quran and Hadith.

Rosmah's visit to Saudi Arabia was at the invitation Saudi Arabia's deputy minister of Education, Nora Abdullah Al-Fayez, who was also the first Saudi Arabian woman appointed as a deputy minister.